“This is good news for fish and wildlife in western Montana,” Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday.
The funds were recommended by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a multi-state agency charged with balancing the needs of fish and wildlife with the need for affordable and reliable hydropower.
The conservation projects, set for 2007 through 2009, were selected from nearly 550 proposals from throughout the Northwest.
For Montana, BPA will provide funding to mitigate the impacts to fish and wildlife resulting from construction and operation of Hungry Horse and Libby dams. The Hungry Horse mitigation project includes plans for a hatchery aimed at helping recovery of westslope cutthroat trout in the Flathead River system.
Other specific fish listed in the finance package include the Kootenai River's endangered white sturgeon.
In addition, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - along with the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks - received some $5 million per year to buy land and conservation easements to benefit native fish.
BPA also will fund an effort to monitor the spread of aquatic “nuisance species,” such as zebra mussels. And both the Bitterroot and Blackfoot basins will receive help developing watershed plans.
Schweitzer applauded the council's efforts, and encouraged BPA to follow through with funding as quickly as possible.
“This has been a long hard process,” said Montana council member Rhonda Whiting, “but in the end it was well worth it.”
Whiting, who also chairs the council's fish and wildlife committee, said she would continue to work with the council, the state and the tribes to ensure that Montana's headwater reaches receive ample attention during Columbia Basin discussions.
In recent years, much of BPA's mitigation support has gone to endangered salmon living in downstream states, leaving Montana fisheries high and dry.
That fact prompted Schweitzer to tell council members earlier this year that “the most important part of this whole (hydroelectric) system is where the water comes from.”
Which is to say, Montana.
And too often, Schweitzer said, efforts to help downstream salmon have run contrary to the needs of Montana's own resident fish.
In the past, the governor said, Montana has provided 50 percent of the water for the system, but has received only3 percent of the budget for protecting endangered species.
Council member Bruce Measure credited Schweitzer for making progress in balancing that equation in a way that recognizes Montana's contributions and needs. That progress, he said, is clearly evident in the $28 million fish and wildlife package announced this week.
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